The pandemic and the ups and downs in the financial markets in recent years could have combined to nip the growth of Haynes and Boone's Charlotte office in the bud.

Instead, the Texas-based Am Law 100 firm has increased head count in the office since 2019 with lawyers who almost entirely deal with finance—despite opening right before the start of a pandemic that essentially shut down the economy and court system, and the Federal Reserve's subsequent move to repeatedly raise interest rates and slow economic growth to tamp down inflation.